The Pride of a Movement
Forty years ago, in the early morning of June 28, 1969, gay men HIV are still excluded from marriage, equal employment, safe and lesbians, drag queens and transgender people in Greenwich schools, decent health care and equal protection under the law Village, New York, rose up and said “No more!” to police bru- in states around the country. at’s not acceptable, and we won’t tality, harassment and discrimination. eir rebellion, powerful stop ghting until we achieve full civil rights for everyone. and historic, is celebrated every year as an inspiring turning point in our movement. People came out into the streets that Pride celebrations are a birthday party for our movement and day to demand equality. Soon after, we went to courts, legisla- they give us a chance to look back so we can gain energy and in- tures and our communities and continued demanding respect spiration for the work ahead. Lambda Legal sta and volunteers and equality under the law. A broad movement emerged, and join hundreds of thousands of others in more than 30 cities Lambda Legal opened its doors four years later. and towns around the country to march in parades, distribute information and enjoy the celebration of our movement and our We have made enormous changes in 40 years. In 1969, there community. were sodomy laws in well over half of all states that made us criminals just for expressing our sexuality; now, after Lambda At Lambda Legal, we have the determination to continue Legal’s historic U.S. Supreme Court victory in Lawrence v. winning civil rights and legal protections for gay men and Texas, there are no state sodomy laws. In 1969, there was not lesbians, bisexual and transgender people and people with HIV a single state law protecting LGBT people against discrimina- — and the pride that goes along with it. tion; now there are 20 states plus the District of Columbia with laws expressly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, 12 of which also expressly cover gender-identity discrimination. And in 1969, no one even talked about marriage or legal recognition for same-sex couples and their families; today same-sex couples can get married in four states (by the end of KEVIN M. CATHCART the summer, there may be more!) and other laws recognizing and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR protecting our relationships exist in nine others across the nation.
In April, marriage equality came to the heart of America as a unanimous Iowa Supreme Court struck down the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in Lambda Legal’s case, Varnum v. Brien. Rapid progress followed as Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire passed marriage equality laws within weeks. History is moving forward quickly. But LGBT people and people with
2 IMPACT | Summer 2009